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Home Building Permits Plummet In Brighton
City Gives Builders Incentives To Increase Available Housing
POSTED: 5:24 pm MST November 18, 2009
UPDATED: 11:10 pm MST November 19, 2009
BRIGHTON, Colo. -- A dramatic drop in new housing permits is prompting Brighton to take drastic steps to lure builders back to town.Starting Dec. 1, the city plans to cut the cost of building permits in half. It will also allow builders to defer paying sewer and water fees until the house is sold.Developers said the changes will save them 15-20 percent on the cost of construction.
"That's often the difference of being able to actually construct the house at all," said James Vigesaa, a Brighton-area contractor.Home development in Brighton took a sharp dip when the economy started to tank in 2007. The city used to issue 500 to 600 permits a year. Now, that number is down to just 29 for all of 2009."We know that we have a diminishing market in what's available, so we had to figure out some way to jumpstart this," said Brighton Mayor Jan Pawlowski.The plan already appears to be working. Brighton said a developer has already committed to apply for new permits next month.
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